This is a sort of odd admixture of pleasantly ambling found family adventure and The Horrors Of War. I liked the found family dynamics, and some of the early battle scenes were effective, but once the scope expands beyond small border squabbles to whole armies on the move, the focus on broad-scale logistics overwhelmed the emotional power of earlier encounters. Still, I was all set to give it three stars--and then the ending happened. Some books earn their literal deus ex machinas; this one didn't. It came out of nowhere, undermining (IMO) any attempt at character growth that had gone before.

(It's probably worth noting that I haven't read the books to which this is a prequel, which might mean I'm missing some of the emotional weight and nuance . . . but it's also worth noting that based on other reviews by people who have read those books, I might just be better off this way.)

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